Ivy Style contributor Rebecca C. Tuite, author of the book “Seven Sisters Style: The All-American Preppy Look,” was married last week and made the New York Times weddings pages. Congrats!
English lass Rebecca C. Tuite reached out to us several years ago, introducing herself as a sorority girl simpatico with our little sartorial fraternity here. She was researching the corollary of the Ivy League Look, namely the style that WASPy women wore at elite eastern colleges at the same time young men were setting styles …
In our last post we mentioned a 1954 LIFE Magazine article entitled “The Ivy Look Heads Across US.” It’s been referenced several times here, including in a few of Richard Press’ columns, as J. Press was largely featured in the article. But we’ve never actually presented it here and new readers may not be familiar with …
Here are the highlights — good, bad and neutral — from 2015, the year that was. Help us add to the list. — CS & CC * * * Ivy Style gets a magazine-style, device-responsive redesign Ralph Lauren steps down as CEO According to The Daily Beast, college students lose their collective mind John Simons …
Last Friday I had the pleasure of sitting next to man-of-the-moment Jack Carlson (author of “Rowing Blazers” and fresh off his packed party at Polo) at the National Arts Club. We were watching slideshow presentations on preppy and Seven Sisters style from Jeffrey Banks and Rebecca Tuite. Meanwhile, unassuming in a corner of the hall, …
Despite our latest storm detaining some attendees, the MFIT’s “Ivy Style” symposium went off with a bang. Presenters included co-authors of the accompanying book; Patricia Mears gave an overview of how the exhibit came about and Bruce Boyer talked about the jazz musicians who took up the Ivy look in the ’50s and ’60s.
The Yale-Vassar bike race found its origins in a drunken wager. At a meeting of Yale’s Trumbull Beer and Bike Society, one student declared he could beat another in a bicycle race all the way to Vassar. However, this valiant duel between two determined Trumbull residents quickly became a popular annual tradition in the early …
There is little doubt that Mary Mccarthy’s short story “The Man in the Brooks Brothers Shirt” is now probably more famous for its punchy title — a dream for the Brooks Brother’s marketing team — than it is for the actual story. But it remains a classic part of the mystique of the Brooks Brothers …
A quick look back at this charming photo posted a decade ago, with dating customs that go even farther back. * * * London-based Ivy Style contributor Rebecca C. Tuite, currently at work on a book on the iconic Vassar Girl of the ’50s, posted this photo on her personal blog. The shot is from …
Although Brooks Brothers didn’t officially launch a full women’s department in its flagship store until 1976, young American women had been infiltrating the bastion of sartorial masculinity for quite some time. Since launching its pink shirt for women in 1949, Brooks had begrudgingly acknowledged the large number of females who wanted to wear the brand. …
When Marilyn Monroe steps onto the screen in “Some Like It Hot,” wearing elaborate furs and gowns, her soft blond curls swept into an elegant chignon, she spends much of her time pretending to be a wealthy, well-to-do Vassar student. She is a classic example of Hollywood’s vision of the Vassar Girl: the stereotypical rich, …
Back in the heyday of the Ivy League Look, when a boy was going steady he’d remove the locker loop on the back of his oxford-cloth buttondown, signalling to other females that he was spoken for. And how did a female student signal she was taken? By wearing her boyfriend’s college scarf. The practice was …
“Entry E” is something of a pulp novel, telling a tale of Ivy League life in America that was considered startling on its release in 1958. But for all the adolescent angst and raucous action in this story, there is plenty of mid-century Ivy League style and quiet consideration of the “Ivy Man,” described in …
“Vassar College’s touch football team today issued a challenge to the Kennedy family in Washington: play us,” announced The Poughkeepsie Journal in November 1962. The reason for such sporting confidence? In the fall of that year, Vassar students had formed the first all-female college touch football teams. With names like the Joss Jocks, Noyes Nymphs …
Update: 12:26 PM EST I’ve just been informed that the story at The Gentleman’s Journal linked below is not loading. My apologies and I’ve informed my editor to investigate the broken link. Update: 12:49 Link should be working. * * * I’ve recently begun writing for The Gentleman’s Journal, a London-based luxury magazine with close …
Today, in honor of International Women’s Day, Ivy Style revisits one of our most popular posts: the much-shared, much-lauded, moutwatering girls + bikes + penny loafers post of 2011. It may not be what the organizers of IWD had in mind, but it’s the best this old boys’ club can do. * * * The …
Assistant editor Christopher Sharp takes the reins as we celebrate five years of news and commentary, words and pictures, clothes that make you cheer and clothes that make you cringe. * * * As Ivy Style reaches its fifth anniversary, we are certainly now post-grads no plans on giving up the old alma mater. Christian …
Last week Ivy-Style.com presented Julien Dedman’s 1954 Playboy article on Brooks Brothers. In this post, Rebecca C. Tuite, whose book on Seven Sisters style is forthcoming, examines the author’s parody of life at Yale. * * * “Yale men everywhere join in one brotherhood at eventide to remember the golden days of yesteryear and the …
Over the past few years, the Ivy Trendwatch has helped bring scholarly attention to the clothing and social customs of college men during the heyday of the Ivy League Look. “Take Ivy” shined an outsider’s lens on college life in the mid-’60s with a specific eye for what men were wearing. Then came the MFIT …